Very good article, RIchie! I have to admit, and am proud to say, that I follow most of these suggestions to the tee! I think that my sleep disturbance is the worst of ALL of my CFS/ME symptoms. WIthout sleep, there is no "next day" for me. I must get 8-10 hours, or I feel literally, physically ill when I wake up.

I use a fan for white noise. I exercise during the day. I use my bedroom only for sleep. I avoid stimulants and liquids before bed!!!

Good article! Hope everyone reads it and learns one more little "trick" to help them get a good night's rest! xo

Thanks Richie.As sleep deprivation is a constant problem for me, I am always open to any suggestions that may improve my problem.I do follow the majority of points given.My room is dark and quiet.My mattress is comfortable.I attempt to go to sleep around the same time each night.I have a notebook that I use to write down particular things that are causing me stress.However, one thing I could do is to spend less time in my room and use other rooms in my house to rest in during the day.
To reinforce the thought that my bedroom is for sleeping. I spend more time in this one room than anywhere else.Infact I don't even use my lounge rooms or hardly ever eat at the dining table.
I have no hope of healing without sleep and seriously I would trade every material thing I own for permanent natural sleep.I would sleep naked in a tent.

To be totally honest about resting in my room! I've never found that it made any difference if I napped in here (my room) during the day, or played games on the X-box...whatever!!! I can still sleep in here.

I'm often out of the room, as in mealtime, company visits, doing dishes, etc. But I've never really noticed that resting in my room during the day, affected my ability to sleep during the night.

Just throwing that out there! xo

I have been given so many different sets of sleep hygiene to follow over the years and followed some for years. I found it all utterly useless, except for things that even people without insomnia would enjoy like proper temps, and developed my own routine which involved the opposite of much of what was suggested for various reasons. Since starting belsomra and seriously lowering several of my meds I have found sleep hygiene actually makes a difference now. Caffeine makes a difference for once and light makes a difference. I am not just dragging along trying to keep my mind occupied so it doesn't collapse into crying out of exhaustion until the meds force me asleep. Belsomra let's me sleep instead of makes me sleep so I have to help it out. I still violate many sleep hygiene rules to my individual benefit though.

My insomnia is most definitely a very physical problem not impacted much by environment. Belsomra alters the same receptors that cause narcolepsy unlike all the other meds that try to rely on much the same types of sedation. Neurologists never care though. The only one who started to talk about helping me was still just mentioning using things like antipsychotics. He wanted medical records that were near impossible to get before treating me so when I got shuffled to another psychiatrist I figured if antipsychotics are the strongest things in that neurologists arsenal I'm not any worse off with a good psychiatrist instead.

I don't follow any of this and get a good night's sleep. I used to take Doxepin which gave great deep sleep but tapered off of it a few months ago since it made me fat.

Now I take 2 or 3 L-Tryptophan 1500 mg (high dose) and sleep great. I've told other normal people about it and now they all take it.

Even before CFS I had sleep problems and am so glad to have found L-Tryptophan.

I have tried L- Tryptophan several times over the years but with no success..Perhaps I will try a much higher dosage as mentioned here, provided it is recommended as safe.

Aussie, I didn't have any help from lower doses of L-Tryptophan. Only these high doses work for me. And work well.

L-tryptophan helps create serotonin and melatonin. The 2 most important things for controlling a sleep schedule. I'm not sure if it does anything more useful than that. I know that by itself those will not impact me. You do want to watch such supplements at high dosages if you take any other psychiatric medications and possibly others. You can try melatonin on it's own but it doesn't have an impressive rate of effectiveness. There is also a mild medication with minimal interactions or side effects that makes you more sensitive to the melatonin you are producing. On the other end light boxes and similar will help trigger the body to make more serotonin which will help maintain daytime wakefulness and convert to melatonin when you are no longer exposed to light. A psychiatrist I was seeing had a patient rig shoplights with daylight spectrum bulbs over his bed to come on when he wanted to wake up. Better than an alarm clock. Your own sun.

There are lots of variations to things but none of them are guaranteed to work. The problem with sleep disorders is you may never find 2 people who are alike unless you search the net for something specific.

I love this stuff, L-Tryptophan 1500 mgs. You are right about it being a precursor to serotonin and melatonin. I was on doxepin for antidepressant as well as sleep and tapered off using Tryp. I'm not depressed either.

I told my doc and did a deep internet dive on high dose Tryp. and found nothing negative.

From what I know of biochemistry and physiology, I don't see any harm in taking L-tryptophan in supplements provided there aren't harmful contaminants in the supplements.

It does, after all, exist naturally in common foods like oats and peanut butter. I could see someone getting a gram or two just from eating foods rich in this amino acid. It's one of the essential amino acids, which means we would get sick if we did not ingest in some way regularly.

I don't like to resort to drugs, but I have found that taking a small dose of clonopin at bedtime helps me sleep better. I'll still wake up with hot flashes multiple times, but at least I usually go right back to sleep and feel more rested in the morning.
I hope everyone of you finds something that helps you sleep. That is sooo important! hugs Renee

I agree with DariaC. I know ALL the sleep experts say just use the BR for sleep, but I also have a great meditation space in there, I can take naps in there. It is not what helps or prevents good sleep for me.

I always use earplugs even though my husband doesn't snore. ANY sound - including the bullfrogs and the birds, wakes me. I use eyeshades if I nap. I have black out curtains on the windows. No tv. I do sometimes read on my iPad but usually books.

All that said - I have tons of meditations and guided meditations that I am not using. So.. that might help. In all honesty, since I need to sleep to heal, I will use medications if I am not falling asleep. I also take magnesium, melatonin (low dosage to mimic what should be in my body) and something I think is called "Sleepright"(?). Sometimes that works. If not - drugs.